Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said Wednesday his party will vote against a Conservative non-confidence motion due to be tabled next week — giving the Liberal government enough votes to stay in power and avoid an imminent election.
“Will the Bloc vote in favour of the Conservative motion next week? The answer is no,” Blanchet said in French.
“The motion contains absolutely nothing. It essentially says: Do you want to replace Justin Trudeau with Pierre Poilievre? The answer is no,” he said.
Blanchet said the Bloc is “at the service of Quebecers,” not Conservatives.
“I’m not a Conservative. Conservative values are not Quebec values,” he said.
Pierre Poilievre is calling on the NDP to announce their position on his non-confidence motion, which Conservatives intend to bring forward next week during their first opposition day of the fall sitting.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said earlier Wednesday he would table a motion next week to force MPs to vote either for or against keeping Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government in office.
Riding high in the polls, the Conservatives are dead set on going to an election as soon as possible to capitalize on their current popularity.
Poilievre said the country urgently needs a “carbon tax election” and he pressured NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh to join the Conservatives in triggering an election.
NDP coy about non-confidence votes
But Singh’s position on the non-confidence motion is moot now that Blanchet has ruled out supporting it.
The NDP has been coy about its intentions on this and future non-confidence votes.
Singh said Tuesday the Liberals are “finished” and he told his caucus today that the Liberals and Trudeau “don’t deserve another chance.”
But Singh hasn’t committed to bringing down the government at the earliest opportunity.
Asked Wednesday how the NDP will vote next week, a spokesperson told CBC News: “We did not announce our position on this today.”
Speaking to La Presse, a Montreal newspaper, the party’s Quebec lieutenant Alexandre Boulerice said in French the party “still has things to accomplish.”
Singh has said that his caucus will decide their non-confidence votes on a “case-by-case” basis.
A fall federal election would be tricky for the NDP, given their provincial counterparts in B.C. and Saskatchewan will also be contesting elections in the coming months.
Concurrent federal and provincial elections would be a drain on the party’s money and resources. Unlike other parties, the provincial and federal NDP wings are fused together as one party.
Under Canada’s Westminster system of parliamentary democracy, the prime minister and his government must enjoy the confidence of a majority of MPs to remain in office.
If the Liberal government wants to win those votes, Trudeau and his cabinet must convince one of the major opposition parties to vote its way.
The Liberals hold 154 of the 338 seats in Parliament.
To get to a majority of 169 MPs without Conservative support, the Liberals need either the NDP (25 MPs) or the Bloc Québécois (33 MPs).
Blanchet has said he would keep the Liberals in power in exchange for some policy concessions.
While Blanchet said today he would direct Bloc MPs to save the government next week, he hasn’t said he’s received any firm commitments from the Liberals to date.
A byelection loss in the longtime Liberal stronghold of LaSalle–Émard–Verdun has put Prime Minister Justin Trudeau under pressure to defend his leadership as the government faces a potential non-confidence vote next week.
Blanchet has said he wants the government to increase pensions for seniors.
The Liberal government already has enacted a 10 per cent boost to Old Age Security (OAS) for pensioners over the age of 75.
The Bloc wants the increase be extended to all seniors over the age of 65. The party has a private member’s bill before Parliament to do just that.
That sort of boost would be costly for the federal treasury at a time when the Liberals are trying to rein in government spending to keep the national debt in check and maintain Canada’s top credit rating.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) has said the Bloc’s 10 per cent boost would have a net cost of $16.1 billion over five years, a pricey commitment for the Liberal government while it’s also trying to find the money to expand new social programs and build up Canada’s military to meet NATO spending targets.
The Liberals want to stave off an election so they can continue governing and pass legislation like the pharmacare bill, which is still before the Senate.
The Liberals have lost byelections in two safe seats over the last three months as Canadians grow weary of Team Trudeau, but the government has said it has more work to do.
Liberal House Leader Karina Gould, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne are asked by reporters about the Conservative party’s plans to table a motion of non-confidence next Tuesday in the House of Commons to trigger a federal election.
Liberal House leader Karina Gould said this tenuous situation is Singh’s fault.
Gould said Singh has put progressive policies at risk by torpedoing a deal that propped up the Liberal government in this minority Parliament.
“If he cares about climate change, if he cares about pharmacare, if he cares about dental care, if he cares about continuing to advance a progressive agenda for Canadians, he’s going to have to demonstrate that to Canadians next week,” Gould said.
“For Mr. Singh in particular, it’s now going to be on his shoulders as to whether, yet again, another week, he does exactly what Mr. Poilievre asks or he stands up for the things Canadians care about,” she added, citing Singh’s apparent about-face on the Liberal government’s carbon tax.